Kalu Audio has released Triodia, a free valve vocal processor for Windows that combines a complete vocal chain in a single plugin: de-esser, tube compressor, echo and plate reverb, each with its own on/off switch.
At its heart is a tube stage built on physical modeling rather than a generic saturation curve. Each tube runs in a simulated common-cathode gain stage, with B+ supply, plate load, automatic bias and grid conduction, using Norman Koren’s well-known tube equations, the same model used in SPICE circuit simulation. Gain, headroom and harmonic content come from each tube’s own characteristics.
Nine tubes are available, from the hot ROCK (12AX7) and the clean, open AIR (ECC88) to the EF86 pentode (VINTAGE) and the remote cut-off GLUE (6386) and SILK (6BC8). The stage also models Miller-effect roll-off, output transformer saturation and the coupling capacitor, and runs at 2x oversampling.
Features:
- Nine physically modeled vacuum tubes.
- Soft-knee compressor with high-passed detector and program-dependent release.
- Split-band de-esser that reacts to sibilance, not loudness.
- Echo with darkening repeats and stereo ping-pong mode.
- Plate reverb based on Jon Dattorro’s algorithm, with pre-delay and low cut.
- Switchable VU meter (output level / gain reduction) and peak LED meter.
- Animated tube window that glows with the voice and the drive.
- 13 level-matched factory presets for singing, speech and creative effects.
- Three skins (black, red and olive green) and a resizable interface.
- Low CPU usage (about 2% of one core at 48 kHz).
Pricing & Availability
Triodia is available now as a free download for Windows 10/11 (64-bit) in VST3 format, with a Standalone application included.
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